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MANOR PARK CHRONICLE
NOVEMBER 2004
The City’s 2005 Budget – A New Beginning
In the May issue of this paper, I shared with you the reasons for
my disappointment with the decisions in the 2004 Budget. It is now
time to prepare for Budget 2005.
STEP 1: On September 21st, City staff tabled a draft “budget
directions report”. This draft report, in the end, was simply a
plan for consultations on the guidelines. I had expected that the
“directions report” would propose actual guidelines, such as
requiring that:
• The Official Plan form the basis for budgetary planning;
• The budget include adequate resources for maintaining City
buildings, parks and rolling stock; and,
• The budget includes a longer perspective than a one-year time
frame.
There may be other guidelines, such as provision for inflation or
a cap on any property tax increase. Approval of the “guidelines”
will occur on October 19th at Committee (public hearing) and on
October 27th at Council.
STEP 2: December 15th, tabling of the proposed (draft) operating
and capital 2005 Budget.
STEP 3: January 4th – 21st, 2005, public consultations on the
draft budget. A session will be scheduled for Rideau-Rockcliffe in
this time period. Please consult your Manor Park Chronicle in
early January for time and place. The meeting will also be posted
on the ward web site www.rideau-rockcliffe.com.
Step 4: January 24th – 28th, 2005, Committee of the Whole listens
to public delegations on the draft budget. This is quite different
than previous practice. It means that, in principle, public
delegations will be able to address the entire Council on any item
of interest. There will be no committee-by-committee hearings and
debate on the budget.
STEP 5: February 1st – 4th, 2005, Council to deliberate on the
budget.
I hope that Council will have learned the right lessons for this
next budget round. Maybe this new approach will lead to more
rational decisions. As usual, your participation is very
important.
Crime Prevention – A Smarter Way of Investing in a Safer Ottawa
My office has been quite busy over the summer period preparing,
with a panel of prominent citizens, a proposal for Council. As the
title indicates, the proposal advances a strategy that has real
hope of enhancing the safety of our City as well as coming to
grips with our rapidly increasing policing costs. The idea is to
build on proven effective strategies that have been endorsed by
organizations such as the International Centre for the Prevention
of Crime, the United Nations, and World Health Organization. Here
in Canada, the Canadian Forum for Crime Prevention (CFCP) hosted
the First Forum on “What works: the power of prevention” in the
Waterloo region in December of 2003, gathering over 125
policy-makers, practitioners and researchers nation-wide. The
Forum’s final declaration urges municipal governments to create
and support a permanent local crime prevention entity with strong
ties to the City.
Based on the evidence of “what works” to cut crime, it is possible
to make specific short and long-term projections for a safer
Ottawa. By investing in an integrated crime prevention strategy –
that is by implementing best practices and incorporating
successful services and programs already underway in Ottawa -
victimization at home, on streets, at school and at work could be
lowered by up to 50% in 2 to 5 years.
In February of 2004, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ (FCM)
Big City Mayors Caucus endorsed and adopted the CFCP’s Final
Declaration. The Large Urban Mayors Caucus of Ontario (LUMCO) did
the same in April of 2004. City leaders all over Canada are either
calling for municipally led crime prevention, or are already
investing to make it happen.
This initiative is in harmony with the City’s 20/20 Vision for
sustainable development. The City’s Growth Management Strategy
outlines 7 Guiding Principles, including A Caring and Inclusive
City characterized in part by Personal Safety and Security, where
people feel safe in their homes and communities (City of Ottawa
Official Plan, Section 1.3, p.2). The City’s Human Services Plan
outlines 5 strategic directions, including Safe and Healthy
Communities and a Focus on Prevention (p.19). An attractive City
is one where residents feel safe on their streets, in their homes,
at school, at work, and at play. The City recognizes that “it is
always easier, cheaper, and more compassionate to prevent problems
before they occur than to develop solutions after the fact” (Human
Services Plan, p.44).
Although municipal law enforcement taxes cost about $175 per
capita in Ottawa every year, the overall societal costs of crime
and victimization in Ottawa are around $1.16 billion annually.
Ottawa’s crime rates increased for most categories in 2003. The
costs of the Ottawa Police Services have climbed 26% in four
years. Ottawa may be a relatively safe city, but we still need to
address the number of people being victimized each year. And why
wait until things get worse? Now is the time to act. Ottawa needs
such a strategy. As the panel’s report, submitted for Council’s
consideration, says: “The best time to act would be 5 years ago.
The second best time is now. The worse time is 5 years from now.”
Those interested may consult the report on the web site or obtain
a copy at both the St. Laurent Complex and at the Library. A
Committee of Council has now unanimously endorsed that this
approach be part of the draft budget. Actual approval of the
proposal would be part of the budget debate in early 2005.
Beechwood Avenue Community Design Plan (CDP)
Many of you have been wondering about the fate of this venture.
No, it is not yet completed. In fact, it has barely started. Last
season’s intensive exercise focussed on City services (the
Universal Program Review, Opportunity Log), consumed whatever
staff resources might have been available to make any progress.
Some of you may remember that this study will examine how
Beechwood Avenue will redevelop over time. In recent years, there
was a concern among many familiar with this corridor that it was
suffering somewhat. Prior to amalgamation, control over planning,
zoning and design was divided among four municipalities – Ottawa,
Vanier, the Village of Rockcliffe Park and the Regional
Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. Each had its own objectives for
the street. We now have one municipality and one Official Plan
(OP) to guide development along this main street in the future. As
it is stated in the OP, “the main purpose of the community design
plan is to translate the principles and policies of the Official
Plan to the community scale” (Section 2.5.7). The study area
extends along Beechwood from the St. Patrick’s Bridge to Juliana
and the Beechwood Cemetery entrance. The intention is to include
the properties fronting on Beechwood and an adjacent transition
area. Stable residential areas, less affected by “mainstreet”
activity, will not be included. The project will be conducted in
collaboration with the businesses and residents within the study
area and with the nearby communities with an interest in the plan.
A web page on the City’s website will be created. Public
consultation will start this fall. The study should take one year
to complete. Please stay tuned.
Karen Way Rezoning – What’s Up?
My office has just learned that city planning staff is preparing a
report that would approve zoning for the latest Richcraft proposal
for the site on Karen Way. This proposal, with 168 units, calls
for a twelve-story building facing St. Laurent Blvd. and
three-story townhouses backing onto the properties on Apple Tree
Lane. I am currently trying to see if both a zoning application
and a site-plan application for Karen Way could be scheduled for
the same meeting of planning committee. My feeling is that twelve
stories, while a significant improvement over the initial 18-story
proposal, remains an unacceptably high structure at this location.
Moreover, it appears that the staff report will not require that
the Karen Way/St. Laurent Blvd. intersection be signalized! I will
certainly be pressing that the intersection be signalized at the
developer’s cost.
Jacques Legendre
Councillor, Rideau-Rockcliffe
You can communicate with me at (please include a telephone
number):
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa ON K1P 1J1
Tel: 580-2483, Fax: 580-2523
E-mail:
jacques.legendre@ottawa.ca
Web Site:
www.rideau-rockcliffe.com
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